Brahimi: Syria becoming warlord-run failed state

BERLIN - Syria is descending into a Somalia-style failed state run by warlords which poses a grave threat to the future of the Middle East, former peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said.

Brahimi, who stepped down a week ago after the failure of peace talks he mediated in Geneva, said that without concerted efforts for a political solution to Syria's brutal civil war "there is a serious risk that the entire region will blow up."

"The conflict is not going to stay inside Syria," he told Der Spiegel magazine in an interview published at the weekend. (Reuters)